Breaking the Ice
by Fish-balls
Summary: let's reverse the world.what if Natsuki was a CEO of a huge company while Shizuru is just an ordinary person? will Shizuru break the ice wall of our 'lone wolf? Shizuru x Natsuki I dont own Mai-OTOME / Mai-HiME! especially it's characters. *hands up* :D
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

'_Kami-sama! is this for real? I can't breathe..'_

Shizuru had already finished her college and was looking for a job. She was dreaming of applying one of the biggest magazine industry on Kyoto, The HiME magazine. Not just because of the magazine, but also because of her love interest, Natsuki Kruger, the CEO and publisher of the industry.

Her room was filled of pictures of her crushes, but mostly Natsuki's.

She often talks to Natsuki's picture, or sometimes sleeping with it. Now the time has come and she's ready for the interview

"ara, okaa-san, otou-san does this suit me?" shizuru asked, she was actually wearing a Ruched-Sleeve Boucle Jacket and a skirt. "ara! Dear, you look wonderful!" her mom replied, and her father nodded.

"Ookini okaa-san, otou-san, I should be going now, before getting late for my appointment." Shizuru bowed and waved her hand as she left home.

She rode a bus going to Kruger publishing, recomposing herself and focusing on her coming interview. _'Kruger publishing… here I come…Natsuki'_

The building holds a wolf logo on it's rooftop, big enough to see that the building was owned by Krugers, every employee had a wolf badge pinned on their IDs. The main motif inside the building was Blue, Silver, And black. At the Entrance hall, there were paintings of different artists, some were the picture of their published magazines, and few pictures of Natsuki and the Kruger Family.

standing next to the painting was the huge family picture of Natsuki, She was standing between his two brothers, while their parents was sitted on a classical sofa,wearing formal attire black-white. Shizuru stared at the image for a few minutes. _'ara, so this is the Kruger family, there is Natsuki, her brothers Rei and Kenji, and their parents Saeko and Ciel.'_

_

* * *

  
_

Meanwhile on Kruger Publishing.

"What the HECK! Because of this issue we lost 30% of our customers, couldn't you have any better ideas? It's always common. If we always use the same style, we can't have customers!" a raven haired girl growled, gritting her teeth.

"Hey, hey, Natsuki, calm down, we're still on the second place, besides I'll-.." her friend Tate was cut off because of a large sound came from the hit of Natsuki on her table. "Excuses, excuses..how many times are you trying to apply those words to me? we're always on the 2nd place I know! And im tired of IT! Now you'll tell me you're going to do your best next time? C'mon im so sick of that." Natsuki answered in return. Her face was now full of anger and disappointment.

"fine! If you don't want to then I'll just resign! dammit! Im also tired of you! You're so childish!" tate removed his ID, and walked out on their office.

"Then Go! I don't need someone like you here!" she shouted, which made everyone look at her. Because of annoyance she glared everyone. "how about you? Are you gonna resign too?"

The employees didn't answer and went back to their works.

Natsuki went inside her office to cool off, thoughts ran into her mind.

'_why can't you just…stick with me? Have I done wrong? i hope the others wont leave me like he did'_

After having a Heavy sigh, she closed her eyes for a bit to relax.

* * *

Shizuru went to the information counter to ask main room of the building.

"Uhm excuse me… could you tell me where is the CEO's office? I'm applying for a job in this industry."

She asked the counter, making a warm yet a façade smile on her face, which made the girl on the counter blush.

"the main office was on the 8th floor right side of this wing. Goodluck on your interview, they say that the CEO's not in the mood today" She answered.

"ara? Why is that? Well, I better be going now. Ookini for the information." She bowed, and went off.

As she arrive to the main office of the CEO and others, she was stunned of what it looks like, a huge space for working, having their own computers and tables, meeting area, where they plan the designs of their magazines. She looked at her left side and she saw the plaque card. "Natsuki Kruger, CEO" she stated.

'_this is it.. guide me please'_

She knocked through the door, but no one answered..

_'no one's here?'_

She knocked again and again until she was answered angrily by Natsuki.

"NOW, WHAT?!"

Shizuru got stunned at the sight of Natsuki, she was wearing Two Stoned tank top shirt, pants, and converses. She can't do anything but to look at her.. eye to eye.

_Kami-sama! is this for real? I can't breathe..' _shizuru thought as she stare.

On the other hand, Natsuki was surprised of the person who was infront of her, she was caught on Shizuru's eyes. _'she's beautiful…but what is she doing in here?'_ she thought.

"And who are you?" she asked, their faces was just centimeters away.

"Shi-Shizuru Viola.. applying for a job h-here." She can't focus on her talking since she's focusing on her Natsuki.

"oh. Alright, you're hired. There's your table and talk to Nao for details. You'll start tomorrow." Natsuki ended, avoiding the crimson eyes which made her anger loosen, without knowing_. 'geez, what did I just felt...to those eyes?'_

Natsuki closed the door and left a stunned Shizuru, her thoughts were still wandering about the events, she didn't had her interview, still, she was accepted that fast. When she went back into her normal self again. she then asked her self.

_'ara..next stop should be at Nao-san, it's so fast..i wonder what will happen next?'_

_

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Next chapter: Let's start!

R&R please! :D

thank you.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Mai-HiME / Mai-OTOME (sunrise does), the characters used in the story, and also the scene on **Chapter 1**, yup, that scene was from the movie 'a very special love', my sis kept blabbering to me about that thing, she wont stop until I put that on this fanfic. -_-". (di pa naman ako maka JLC) The scene was owned by star cinema. But after the scene, the following chappies will be originally made by me. =3

AU: thank you very much for the reviews. That helped me a lot to improve this story. Hopia lyk it. *bows head*

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Chapter 2

'_ara…did Kami-sama deprived me for seeing Natsuki?'_

_'ara..next stop should be at Nao-san, it's so fast..i wonder what will happen next?' _shizuru thought.

She felt her heart getting excited, because of the recent events that had happened; she almost jumped when she thought she passed without even a sweat. And because of her wild exaggerated feeling, she collided with another woman, she was wearing a pink shirt, sandals and female slacks. Her hair was red and she was known for her colorful language.

"Damn! My ass hurts!" she she cursed.

"ara, im so sorry miss, I didn't see you coming, and I was looking for Nao-san" shizuru stood up and reached her hand for the woman which she accepted.

"Oh well, yeah, after you hurt my ass now you'll talk to me?" she answered rubbing her behind.

"ara, so you are Nao-san? Pleased to meet you, Im Viola Shizuru." Shizuru formally offered her hand.

"oh yeah I am. It's Juliet Nao Zhang, but call me Nao, what do you want then?" she reached out shizuru's hand for a hand shake.

"I was ordered by Ms. Natsuki Kruger to look for you and ask for more details, since I was new here, aside from that, I wasn't given a clear distinction about my job. She just said im hired." The Brunette explained.

"WHAT THE HELL?!" Nao shouted. "She just accepted you without my permission?? Damn that blue haired spongy! It's my job to hire you or not, since im incharge for job applications!" she continued.

"ara… what should we do then?" she asked.

"Attack that butthole! And report. So come with me because I'll talk the both of you." Nao answered, walking faster like she was going to compete on walkathon.

* * *

'_crap, what did I just do?. I should have consulted that bastard first…and about that Shizuru Viola.. she's interesting.' _Natsuki thought as she stood up and looked at the view inside her office; from there she could see many buildings around, stocked cars because of traffic, almost everything that you see in an urban environment.

_*The door knocked loudly_*

"What's with the loud knocking of the door?!" Natsuki grumbled as she walk through the door to open it. "geez Nao! What are knocking loudly like that?"

"Im sorry, Damn cheeseball! It's just we need to talk about few things" Nao answered while going inside the room with Shizuru, then she continued "you know that before we hire new employees, they should be on a formal process, besides, we don't have even read her resume, and being a CEO doesn't mean to bypass my job!"

"I know Nao..I know". Natsuki had her 'come-to-me-we'll-talk-here' glare at Nao, meaning they need to leave Shizuru for awhile on the room to have their issue to be closed, so before they leave to their room she turned to shizuru and said.

"Uhm, Shizuru, right?"

"y-yes, Ms. Kruger." She answered as she turned her attention to Natsuki.

"nah, enough formalities, Natsuki will be fine, so take a seat" the raven-haired girl continued

"Ara…Ookini Natsuki." As she sit gracefully to the chair. _'ara... Kami-sama it's so good to be true!' _

"no problem with that, uhm, we'll be leaving you for a few minutes, so please feel comfortable. Duran will be here to guard you up, may we take a look for you're resume please".

Shizuru then opened her bag and gave her resume to Natsuki. As she look into her emerald eyes make Shizuru feel something weird. 'she's not happy at all, I could feel that…there is something behind those eyes'

On the other side, the staring of shizuru made Natsuki blush hard. _'God..Dear God…why am I feeling this way towards her?'_ so to avoid passing out she swallowed hard and coughed. "Ahem, thank you Shizuru-san for this resume, we'll come back after a few minutes."

"ara, to be fair, Natsuki should call me as Shizuru." She smiled, a true smile which she just give to her parents or to someone she loves.

"uh-oh, oh yeah, sure Shizuru. So, we'll take our short leave. Nao, let's go" The raven haired girl answered, bowing her head and making her way out of the room blushing. _'c'mon, what did just happen to me?'_

On the way to the meeting room, Nao started a short conversation while walking.

"Hey Natsuki…have you been whipped or something? you looked flushed" she asked

"N-no im not! Im not interested in her she's just a simple girl who wants to be an employee, and besides I –" she stopped, as she realized what she was saying. "I don't really know." She muttered.

"Im just asking one question and you said a thousand freaking answers, you know that?" the red head said as they stop on the meeting room and continued. "Well, I'll leave that freaking question to you, by the way, you have her resume right? Let me take a look at it."

"oh, well, here." Natsuki said as she handed the paper. After that, she took out her hanky and wiped out her sweat along with her flushed face.

Nao quickly read Shizuru's application form for a few minutes.

_Viola, Shizuru_

_#143 Amethyst Village_

_Mobile: *****_

_Res- landline: *****_

_Objectives_

_To obtain a job that will utilize and maximize what I have learned from my degree program and provides substantial experience necessary in the field of business administration._

_Personal Data_

_Age: 22_

_Birth date: December 19, 1986_

_Status: Single_

_Gender: Female_

_Proficient on the ff. Software Environment_

_Operating Systems:_

_Microsoft Windows_

_Mac OS_

_Microsoft Office:_

_MS Word_

_MS Excel_

_MS PowerPoint_

_MS Publisher_

_MS Access_

_Educational Attainment_

_-4th year College-Bachelor of Science in Business administration_

_Kyoto University_

_-High school_

_Kyoto University_

_-Elementary_

_Kyoto University_

_-Preparatory_

_Kyoto University_

_Honors and awards~_

As Nao read and scan every information regarding Shizuru, her eyes widened and pulled the paper closely into her face. "Oh crap,crap,crap..Natsuki"

"Nao, you know that cursing and using your colorful language are prohibited here right? It's on the code of ethics and norms of conduct. What's the matter anyway?" Natsuki curiously looked at her. "give me that."

"here ya go then. Take a look at it." Nao said as she handed back the paper to Natsuki.

"That person is Jimmy Neutron's sister, I swear!" she continued.

Looking into the details, Natsuki somehow was impressed to the information she had read. _'After thinking for her beauty now im falling for her intelligence…err…what?! what did I said?' _then she continued reading the whole resume. _'you're so perfect…but im _

_sorry…'_

The raven-haired girl seriously looked at Nao. "You know that we can't accept anymore employees…right? She really impressed me back from the start. But we both know what issue I am having right now."

"I know that. Well, it's really your fault for having this ini-mini problem to us, if you didn't say things so fast, this wouldn't happen. Now you made her expect that she's officially hired but not." The red head answered. "Now we know things clearly, why don't we have our judgement time?"

Natsuki nodded, "Alright then Nao, but be sure not to be harsh. I don't want to hurt her or something." She added.

"yeah, yeah, talk to my hand, let's just go back to your cage" Nao answered.

* * *

Walking back to the CEO's office, Natsuki mentally cursed herself for doing rude actions and decisions. _'damn, damn, damn you Natsuki. Your actions could really hurt her._ _Dammit! What am I going to do? Oh-'_ she stopped as they stood infront of her office. _'so…fast?'_

"Oi, 'miss CEO' why don't you open up your own office door?" the red head joked.

"shut up! Chili-head." She muttered

"You told me it's bad to use colorful language when office hours, right? *laugh* " she defended.

Having defeated by Nao, Natsuki couldn't say anything but growl a little. "Fine, let's just go inside…"

As they enter the room, they saw Shizuru patting Duran's head, while Duran seem to be enjoying Shizuru's company.

"Oh, you seem to pet Duran that fast." Natsuki spoke, making Shizuru stood up and make a graceful head bow. "ara… sorry for making those actions."

"O-oi, n-no need, no need for that!" the great CEO reacted so fast while waving her right hand. "besides, im happy to see that Duran's good to you, he knows your kind-hearted and…and smart yeah, smart!" _'control Natsuki! CONTROL'_

'_a-ara…she said that? To…me? kind-hearted? Smart?... Kami-sama I'll pass out! Not this time!'_

That time, was the first time a blush crept to each other's face. While Nao stood between them.

"Natsuki, we still have something to say to her! Continue that blushing contest after!" she shouted.

"alright! I get it! Im sorry Shizuru…" Natsuki said quickly, looking on to her side and stepping backwards. "Nao, has something to tell you."

"ara? Please tell me Nao-san." The brunette asked.

Nao, getting into the space the natsuki had left, she faced to Shizuru.

"Ok, I'll tell things directly to you. You're sure a smart girl, but then, since our company doesn't lack employees, we can't accept you that fast, besides, our open jobs doesn't suit your skills at all. Except…" she looked shizuru straight to the eye.

"except?" the brunette had her curious look.

"Except if you wanted to be our janitress." Nao finished as she laugh.

"ara…I shouldn't have entered college if I accept being a janitress after all." Shizuru answered, sure she felt hurt for being unable to pass her company, other than that she wont be near to her special one. But then, that's the truth, so in order to hid her broken expectations, she immediately wore her façade smile.

Natsuki on the other hand, could see her real emotions, behind her perfected mask.

'_she's disappointed I know… now, how could I make her happy?' _

"Now you know the truth, you should now take your leave. Good luck, on your job hunting. " The red head said as she offers her hand for another handshake.

"Ara, Ookini for everything Nao-san, I shall now bid my leave." she said, as she reaches for Nao's hand.

The brunette took the opportunity to look at her 'charming puppy' on her own opinion, for the last time.

"Ookini, Natsuki, for having a short time with you." She said, as she bid her leave and walk out on the office. _'ara…did Kami-sama deprived me for seeing Natsuk?i, maybe I shouldn't have reacted so much. But it's okay. There's still chance! Ara, it's lunch time' _she thought as she went out on the Kruger building, stared for a few seconds and walk away.

* * *

"Case Closed!" Nao exclaimed as they look Shizuru leave away from the building.

"No it's not.." Natsuki answered.

"why not?"

"none of your business.."

"asshole"

"bitch"

"damn you Natsuki!"

"Damn you too."

The two shared laughter a few minutes, then again they talked about their serious issue.

"Nao, have you contacted some of our members?" Natsuki asked.

"yep, all you we need is instruments. Are you sure about your decision?" she said as she stares at Natsuki

"yes I am, besides, I was the one at fault on the first place, I've been too crappy, when it comes to business, so I guess, I should surrender to dad." The raven haired girl admitted.

"I think about that too. Well then, HIGH FIVE!" the red head said she lifts her hand to Natsuki

"HIGH FIVE!*small laugh* by the way, could I borrow your Porsche for a day? You take my bike. " the CEO said as she gives Nao a high five, remembering.. _'I need to catch Shizuru!'_

"eh? Why?" the spider asked.

"I need to catch someone, and also, I'll be going off by now!"

"okay,okay, here you go. Take care of it!" Nao said as she get her car keys on her pockets and threw it out to Natsuki.

"Thanks! Catch you up later!" Natsuki shouted as she left to her office and dash out to the car parking to find Shizuru.

"alright! But….Natsuki!" the red head realized, she didn't asked for Natsuki's Ducati Keys. "Dammit! How am I going to drive your bike?!"

* * *

On the other way around, Shizuru was walking waiting on the bus terminal, when a hot red Porsche-Carrera-GT stopped infront of her. pressing down the windows revealed a nervous yet a blushing Natsuki.

'_ara, why is she here? She's blushing so cute again!' _she thought.

"U-uhm, Shizuru, could we talk for a bit?" Natsuki proposed.

"A-ara, sure, why not?" Shizuru answered.

Natsuki got out on the car and opened the other side for Shizuru.

"How rude of me, I should be doing this before the talking."

"Ookini Natsuki" that's all what can Shizuru say as she leaned down to the car and sit.

"no prob."

As Natsuki turn on the engines, she noticed Shizuru was not putting on her seatbelt, her instincts had took cover on her mind as she leaned closer to shizuru to put on her belt for safety, _'She smells like cherries…'_

But what made Natsuki back to her thoughts was the view of what she was seeing through, her eyes got focused on the flawless white legs of Shizuru. _'bad thoughts away! Bad thoughts away!'_

Shizuru can't do anything but do blush. She can't control her facial expression since Natsuki was on her way of putting on her seatbelt. _'why can't I stop her from doing this?'_

"u-uhm, t-there, hehe, I just put on your seatbelt f-for safety." The blunette said, shooking her head to avoid the full body blush she'll experience.

"O-Okini…" the brunette answered.

Natsuki drove the car away from the terminal and took Shizuru to the park. After 30 minutes, they arrived to their destination.

"Can I ask, why is Natsuki taking me here?" Shizuru asked, though a part of her seems to stop her from talking.

"I just wanted to start all over again, I know I've been to rude to you, and honestly, I didn't mean that all." The raven haired girl answered.

"Natsuki is already forgiven. Besides, I shouldn't have expected too much, so it's also my fault." The brunette continued.

Natsuki waved her hand a little.

"Forget about that... Uhm, maybe eating lunch together and a short bonding will do? What do you think?"

The proposal of Natsuki somehow, made shizuru show her a real, true smile again. "Ara..it will, Natsuki" she said as she smile warmly towards the raven-haired girl.

"Then let's go" the blunette smiled back for the first time at Shizuru._ 'Seeing those real and perfect smiles, make me smile too Shizuru.' _

Natsuki got out to the car and opened the car's door for Shizuru.

"Ookini, Natsuki.."

'_Natsuki was somewhat different to others…I wonder why?'_

_

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	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I don't own Mai-HiME/ Mai-OTOME, neither the characters used in this story.**

A/U: thanks for the wonderful reviews. Also for the advices you gave to me, for the effort you give just to read my story! *cheesy smile*, I promise to recognize all of your names after this story. Im open to any criticism or what, you could curse me, but it's okay. :D

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Chapter 3

'_You're bringing light to my life…Shizuru'_

Natsuki started to drive at normal speed, thinking if she will talk to the brunette or not. _'I couldn't help it.'_

And so she followed her heart.

"We're going to my favorite restaurant; it's near to the park, so we could have enough time to have a short stroll or whatever." She stated, while her eyes still focused at the road.

The brunette nodded at looked at her, she then, started to talk. "Uhm, could I ask Natsuki a question?"

Without looking, the blunette smiled. "Sure, tell me."

"What could be Natsuki's favorite food?"

'_oh that…' _ she thought. And without a second thought, "Mayonnaise…" she answered.

"Ara, Natsuki thinks Mayo is a food, isn't it a condiment?" Shizuru adjusted a little to have a comfortable view on Natsuki. _'*sigh I hope time stops even for a minute'_

The blunette stirred the wheels, turning their direction to left; she could now see her favorite restaurant, which was owned by her closest friend, Mai.

"Well, just think of it as a food, or Mayo sandwich will do." The blunette defended, pulling her brakes now. "Here we are. So-" she cut off her sentence, as she noticed Shizuru, staring at her, _'day dreaming'_.

Natsuki leaned closer to the brunette's face, _'a perfect…goddess' _she thought. After a few seconds, she waved her right hand infront of Shizuru's face, "Oi, if you don't stop that, I guess I'll have you pay for staring then." She exclaimed.

With that, her 'daydreaming' goddess somehow reacted, and realized her sudden actions, that cause her face to have pink shades onto her cheeks. "a-ara, Im sorry my Natsuki for staring!".

'_did she just said 'my Natsuki'?' _she thought, now both of them were blushing.

"What? What did you said?"

Shizuru waved her hands nervously. _'yaa! I slipped'_

"I mean im sorry for staring Natsuki! Sorry!"

"Nah" the blunette took hold of the brunette's waving hands and continued "there's nothing to worry about, so feel comfortable on my presence.."

Shizuru didn't do anything but turn her attention to their hands. "Ara…I'm comfortable with Natsuki's presence, very much so." And she smiled.

With that, Natsuki squeezed the brunette's hands and gave back the smile. "And so do I…" she released her hold to Shizuru. "Let's go? We're here."

"Ara? Sure." She answered. _'I didn't know she could kill time that fast…'_

The two left on the car and proceeded to the restaurant named 'Mai-delicious'.

Surely it's entertaining aura seem to please customers everyday, the floor was checkered black and white, its seats were comfortable to sit in, and their workers are so accommodating. Since Natsuki was familiar to the place and to the workers, she had the privilege to have free meals or sometimes, reserve some seats.

Scanning the restaurant, Natsuki was welcomed by her closest friend.

"Natsuki! HIGH FIVE!" a busty woman in a chef's attire named Mai yelped in surprise.

"Oi Mai! HIGH FIVE!" the blunette greeted in return.

'_oh so that's the way the greet each other…kawaii~'_ Shizuru thought as she looked at the two.

"I do expected that you'll be here so, there is your table" the woman pointed out. "I'll bring your usual orders there, just let me assist the customers first."

The blunette nodded. "Mai, can I have another seat? Since I brought a companion, I don't want her standing all along."

"Oh, yeah, sure, by the way who is she?" Mai curiously asked. She smiled as she turned her gaze to Shizuru.

"Ara, Im Shizuru Viola, uhm, Natsuki's -" the brunette stared at Natsuki, not knowing what she will answer.

The raven-haired girl quickly replied. "f-friend! Yeah! She's our new friend."

'_a friend of Natsuki eh? I wonder where did she came from. '. _"Hey ya there Shizuru! Im Mai Tokiha, but feel free to call me Mai. C'mon gimme a HIGH FIVE!" she answered. She wanted to welcome Shizuru warmly. _'no wonder how did they met, but I bet she really got Natsuki's attention.' _

"Oh, HIGH FIVE!" the brunette replied happily, making Natsuki laugh a bit.

"Natsuki what's with you?!" the busty woman asked. This made the blunette stop her recent actions and smile.

"Nothing, it's just you're fun to watch, especially you Shizuru." She chuckled.

Hearing such words, made Shizuru, blush a little, she doesn't want to experience full blush attack, so she tried Natsuki on a little tease. _'I hope this works…'_

"Ara, so Natsuki admits that she's watching me everytime since we met?"

Things were reversed, and now it was Natsuki who was caught on blushing state.

"NO!, im not. Why should I watch you?" she retorted.

The brunette covered her face and started to 'cry'. "Ikezu Natsuki…you must think im too ugly for you to watch*sob.."

The people inside the restaurant had all of their attention to Natsuki, making her blush harder…

Alas, the little wolf started to panic and sweat, _'Im here to make her happy, but why am I making her cry?!_'

"Wah, No! it's not that! I promise!, your beautiful, and you even caught my attention! Please don't cry! Don't cry!"

Mai was having her 'shocked' expression as she saw the 'lone wolf and the ice princess' getting freaked out with a girl. _'im correct! tihee…great job Shizuru.'_

"really?" the brunette murmured.

"yes! Really and I mean it." The blunette replied. _'darn! I slipped! But that's the only way I guess.'_

The brunette uncovered a happy face, and chuckled. "Ookini Natsuki."

'_Gotcha with that my puppy.'_

'_did I just fall on to her trap?? Geez, she's unique' _Natsuki thought. Still, "Argh! I thought…gah- forget about it. Let's just go to our seats." She growled. She decided to glare the stop-staring-at-me look at the customers inside, making all of them go back to their food or works.

"Y-Yeah, Natsuki that's right. Just sit." The busty woman stated, and turned her attention towards Shizuru, "Ei, Shizuru, what do you want for lunch? Don't worry it's free of charge." She asked.

"Just Tea and a vegetable salad will do, Ookini Mai, for everything." She answered.

"You're welcome, no problem, since you're our newly-found friend! So, I'll take my leave now, and prepare your orders." Mai replied.

* * *

The two had taken their seats beside the counter. While waiting for the food to be delivered, they were in their own little world.

'_Why is she so enchanting? Why can't I stop myself from looking at her? Why does my heart beats fast this time? no wonder why am I feeling towards you, but im certain that I wanted to be close to you…Shizuru Viola.'_ These thoughts ran in Natsuki's mind. On the other hand, Shizuru was doing the same thing.

'_Seriously Kami-sama, I thought she'll just treat me like an ordinary applicant, looking for job. But why is it she's treating me this…special?_

*click!

For the second time, Natsuki had broken the silence between them, and started a serious, yet a comfortable conversation.

"Do you want to know the real reason why we didn't hire you at all?" she stated.

"Ara, It's because you don't lack at employees after all. That's what Nao-san told me right?" The brunette answered.

"No, that's not it.." the blunette said, crossing her arms between her chest and continued, "There's a major reason behind it."

Shizuru couldn't help but to be curious, and so, she put her hands crossed on the top of the table, and leaned closer.

"Could Natsuki tell me why? It's okay if she doesn't want to open it to others, I'll understand."

"I will, I won't bring up this topic if I don't want to…I don't want to hide anything from you Shizuru." The blunette smirked, making her companion's cheeks into pink, but she decided not to elaborate the action that she had seen.. _'cute'_

And so the blunette coughed and started talking.

"People know that Kruger Corp. was only into magazines, such as car models or motorbikes. And I think that's what you are thinking too, that Kruger publishing is the only and main building of the corporation around Japan. Am I correct?"

The brunette nodded. And then she smiled and continued.

"The truth is, Kruger Corporation holds different buildings around this country, the publishing is just one of the side branches that we were running, and the main businesses of the Kruger Family were luxury cars and motorbikes in the form of the name 'Kuga'."

"Ara, what does that do to my issue?" the brunette confusingly asked.

"Here it is, I insisted to establish another business in the form of magazine, and that's the HiME-magazine, at first my dad kept on lecturing me about this, since im not really into this kind of life, besides, we had already established a magazine which named OTOME-magazine. The 1st placer on the top 10 magazine publishers here, and was controlled by my Eldest brother Kenji."

"Ara, so for short, the two publishing was just owned by one company" the brunette stated.

"Yes, and I was the only one who got the permission of our parents to use our family name in my business, since, all of them, were hidden and unknown to others… then, me and my brother was called on by dad, making a deal between me and Kenji, that if I manage to make it on the top, he'll support my business and close my brother's sub-company, or vice versa. So it means I need to make it on the top."

The blunette changed her sitting position, making a more comfortable one's and continued as she gaze her eyes outside the restaurant.

"Four straight years, I had my sub-company still on 2nd, at my first year, dad congratulated me, for the a wonderful place I got that fast, besides, that time I was still on college, so he's proud on my achievement then. Still, he warned me about our deal so, I made an excuse about that, which he easily accepted. Now, for 3 years, I was still at the 2nd place, and Dad was getting somehow, disappointed about it, for 3 years im always making excuses and promises that next time will be my big shot. But still, I can't prove anything."

"Natsuki…" Shizuru whispered as she stared at Natsuki. Again she received a smirk on the blunette's face.

"Dad said this competition was the final shot I'll have, since he's too tired of expecting.. Now, my company will be officially closed around this week, that's why im not hiring anymore employees…though I really felt guilt when I didn't hire you, that's the truth. I already made some papers for my team, where they will be moved after the company has closed. That is.." the blunette then stopped, trying herself not to cry. "You must be feeling pity towards me now.."

The brunette stood up and went closer towards Natsuki, bending a little, putting her arms around Natsuki's neck and hugged her tightly from the back, and whispered on to her ear. '_this is the only thing that I could use to comfort you…I hope it's okay' _she thought.

"Ara…Im not feeling that towards Natsuki, it's just im so happy the she opened a lot to me…Ookini Nat-su-ki."

*gulp

Natsuki felt strange, somehow, she didn't to push the brunette back, for she was feeling comfortable for the tight hug she was experiencing now. _'this is the first time I let someone hug me, yet, I didn't regret allowing it after all..."_

The orders had already arrived, and were delivered by a certain spiky-haired man, eyes that were colored black and had a brown complexion. Takeda was his name; it's engraved on his name tag. He was actually one of the _'Krugernatics' _who prefer reading Natsuki's magazine, and Also one of the blunette's dying hard suitors.

"Uhh…ehehe..Na-Natsuki-chan, here's your o-order, it's specially made by me and, and, iwassohappytoseeyou." He said, bring the orders on the table, his eyes were plastered on Natsuki's face, not to Shizuru or anyone, that earned him a stop-your-crappy-actions glare, which made him tremble and went to the kitchen quickly, as if, he knows what will happen to him next. _'beating' _he thought. While Shizuru, still hugging the blunette chuckled on the way he acted.

Pulling her arm back from her hug, Shizuru, went back on her seat, and smiled warmly on Natsuki.

"Natsuki shouldn't worry about things…about my job, I'll find another, don't worry about it."

The blunette leaned on the table and pinched shizuru's cheeks.

"I wont stop worrying until you had found another one…so why dont we just eat?" she replied.

Shizuru chuckled. "Hai, Itadakimasu!"

The two munched on with their food, Shizuru was actually disturbed on Natsuki eat her food, the blunette was actually eating a clubhouse, all drowned in mayo. _'she really is weird…'_ she thought.

"Oi, Shizuru, what are you lookin' at?" Natsuki asked, she looked liked a puppy curious to something.

"Ara, there's mayo…" she pointed to the blunette's face.

Before Natsuki could ask again, Shizuru had wiped out the stain on her face by a tissue, which made her turn in to red.

"There…"

"Thanks, Shizuru.". She shooked her head to remove her blushing face and started to munch again.

Shizuru ate her food as well, and then after they finished their meals, the brunette was the one to start their conversation.

"After this, when will Natsuki take me then?"

"Everywhere you… want?" she hesitantly replied.

"Is Natsuki interested on videogames?"

"YES!" she quickly replied " I was born to play them I guess? Why have you asked?"

The brunette smiled warmly. "Let's go to an Arcade center then, it's just a few walks before the park."

"sure! I never went to an arcade center" the blunette said, scratching her head.

"ara? Why is that?"

"Dad used to buy us every console that was released in here, so that we dont have to go outside and play."

"Ara, that explains why Natsuki should go outside and socialize. Other than that, I wanted to have fun with you." Shizuru explained, avoiding the emerald gaze on her.

"Oh…" that was the only thing she muttered. _'that explains why the heck im here, stuck, with you, to have fun.'_

Before leaving they looked for Mai, to thank her for the food, and everything else.

"Mai, thank you for the food! As usual, you're the best." The blunette commented, having a smile on her face.

"Ookini Mai, for everything…" the brunette added.

The busty woman waved her hands.

"Nah! No problem! Just make sure, you'll come back here!" she said with a grin.

"Bye Mai! But before that…" the blunette chimed in

"yes I know…" the busty woman replied.

_1…2…3…_

"HIGH FIVE!!" yelped the both and laughed.

"see you later then Mai" the blunette waved.

* * *

As the two left on the restaurant, they had a great time talking about few things about their lives, their favorites and hobbies, which drew them closer to each other.

"Ara! Natsuki, there's the Arcade center I'm telling to you!" the brunette yelped, pointing her finger directly to the center. "let's get in!", pulling the blunette's hand off her pocket, and started to run still holding her hand.

"Oh…sure!" she nodded.

The raven-haired girl, didn't seem to mind to be pulled off by the brunette, but somehow, she could admit something to herself. _'I was falling for her…that's all what I can say…'_

She gripped her hand a tighter and took the chance to reciprocate the hold, there, she made the excited Shizuru to pause and stare at her.

"Is something wrong? Shizuru? Why did you stopped?" the blunette asked, smiling.

Shizuru couldn't help but to smile back genuinely at her.

"Nothing Natsuki! Let's go" she replied. _'she didn't took her hands off me? Instead, she reciprocated, took the dominance on our hold…ara, stop that Natsuki, I'll fall for you…'_

She thought.

The two stopped running and walked slowly, they both seem to enjoy their holding hands for awhile. No one of them tried to break the silence, they just know.

'_I wonder why do I feel that this is the best thing to do?' _ Natsuki thought, looking at the brunette at the right corner of her eyes.

The two stopped in front of the arcade center and stared each other for a moment.

"This is it Natsuki! I hope you'll enjoy" exclaimed the brunette.

"I think, I …" Natsuki replied, looking at the brightness of Shizuru's face. _'you're bringing light to my life Shizuru…'._ Then she pushed the door of the center.

"WHOA!" the blunette exclaimed out, because of amazement.

________________________________________________________________________

So how was it? Better? Or worst?

Thanks for reading! Please review.


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: ****I don't own Mai-HiME/ Mai-OTOME, neither the characters used in this story. XD**

**A/U: sorry for the late update, I've been busy with my workshop. -_-" thank you for the reviews!!! Im happy sooo happy! Yay! *dances and rolls on the ground*. **

**Thanks to : tomoyo75, stavri, krugern, windtamer01, fyee, chum-sa, musicslave88, , chill37, colorfulsunrise, Urban C, Kikyo4ever, noobsdog, Nai89, ****xbLOodhOundTrOjanx**, **shiznat19,gup011,emtz95, chocoxmocha, alexissa2, Ume sama, tears of the soul, noraily, kampilan, hanazono, zaki-kun!. =3**

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Chapter 4

'_Should I or Shouldn't I?'_

The arcade center had made Natsuki arouse on excitement, the center was painted black, and neon lights were built around the walls. There were many arcade stands around; PVPs, shooting games, driving, and many more, which really caught the cobalt haired woman's eyes. Although it's a little crowded, she didn't mind it. After all, It was air-conditioned, and a card operated game center.

"Ara, I'll let you atleast walk around the center Natsuki, I'll be right back" the brunette spoke as she broke her hold from Natsuki's hand, which earned her a curious look from the blunette.

"I'm just going to buy cards for us to use. You won't have fun if we're just going to stand here and watch them play."

Natsuki smiled. "Okay, I'll wait!".

Shizuru walked through the counter leaving the blunette behind, who was busy scanning the whole area, thinking where she could start. _'There are many machines to be played in here…I guess my day is starting to get better.' _She thought.

"Oh! There it is!" Natsuki exclaimed, as she saw her favorite, getting swarmed by dozens of people. "Guitar Freaks! Version 2!"

"Ara, is that so? Then let's go." The Kyoto-ben replied.

Turning around, she saw the brunette handing her an electronic card; Natsuki smiled and gratefully took it, having their way onwards the machine, they saw a pair playing, and looks having a hard time.

"oh, oh, come on baby! We shouldn't miss that! AW!!! F**K!" shouted the green haired woman, as she desperately press the three buttons to hit, feeling she's an expert as she hold the guitar, she was wearing white V-neck shirt, and shorts.

"It's alright Tomoe, we should try again until we perfect it, we still have 2 more cards for us." The other girl talked, tapping the green haired woman's shoulder while waving the cards.

"why don't you let other's play!" a voice came from behind

"yeah! That's right! You can't even score on thousands!" said the other.

"you're wasting our time watching you!"

Feeling irritated, the green-haired monster named Tomoe shouted to the crowd.

"What's with YOUR F***ING BUSINESS HUH?! We bought our cards, and it's our choice where to play!" she stated as she turned back infront of the screen.

The crowd had no reply, but to murmur different things on them, true, that they were playing on the same gaming machine for how many hours, which made the other players lose their patience on waiting.

Until, a cold voice stopped their actions and turns their attention to where it came.

"Then amaze us if you want to stay there. There were many players waiting for their turns you now."

Once again, Tomoe turned back, with an annoying face. "Bulls**t. DO you really want a piece of me huh? Junk?"

It was Natsuki who had been referred to as junk, but calmly, she managed to answer the dumb question without having another thought.

"Like I'll refuse. But I won't take it outside the streets, why don't we have a duel? What do you think?" she replied as she gazed her eyes to Shizuru.

"Ara, If Natsuki will enjoy, then I wont object." The brunette stated.

Tomoe on the other hand, had her eyes plastered on Shizuru. "Oh, good idea, especially when you brought a girl like her.." she grinned, thinking something pervert. "It'll be easy baby." The girl continued, winking at the brunette.

The blunette, gave her a death-glare and stepped forward protectively to Shizuru.

"Shizuru's not a thing to be bet on. So if you wanted a deal.." she paused a little and continued. "If I lose, you take my car and ducati, If you LOSE, I'll let these crowd to decide what to do on you. How bout' that?"

The sound of cheering of crowd could be heard. As she explain her deal.

"grrrr…FINE! If that's what you wanted, you still look like a beginner though." Tomoe stated, hoping Natsuki will get irritated.

'_You're really getting my nerves you know! But then, A Kruger doesn't display_ _annoyance and irritation to public, especially to those like her.'_ The blunette thought as she moved forward to the other controller and swiped the card.

Miya stepped backwards as she paid attention to the gamers. While Shizuru, walked in to the front, so she could watch clearly the duel between the two. _'Ara, she's too protective…go Natsuki!' _she mentally squealed.

Taking the crowd with her, Natsuki asked one of the audiences to choose the song they will play. He decided to choose 'dragon blade' one of the hardest songs of the game.

'_Too easy…'_ the blunette thought as she stare her opponent for a few seconds, who was now looking odd.

The song had started; Tomoe who was looking 'cool' was now sweating to death, as she tries hard pressing the buttons and curses the song desperately, it was true that she misses a lot of notes than hitting them correctly, the crowd was now on the loose and shouting 'boo' on her. On the other hand, Natsuki, who was just holding the guitar, pressing the buttons correctly and not missing any notes made the boys impressed at what she is doing, while the girls couldn't help but to squeal.

"kyaa! Please make some exhibitions!" the audience exclaimed as she continue playing without a hard time.

Natsuki grinned as she hears the cheers around her, looking at the corner of the eye, she could see Tomoe, desperately pressing the buttons again, and she almost destroyed the guitar piece with her whole force.

"Ara, Natsuki's great…" the Kyoto-ben commented behind as she watched the blunette played the song without losing a sweat.

Somehow, Shizuru's voice tickled Natsuki's ear, she didn't really mind everybody's compliments, but hearing those came from Shizuru's makes her heart skip a beat, it had made her smile widely like an idiot too. _'geez…am I high on drugs or something? It's just her voice…' _she thought_._

The song was now finished, and it lead Natsuki became the winner, and the result of failure for Tomoe.

"Like what the deal says, I'll give you to the crowd." The blunette spoke, giving her spine-chilling glares to the green haired freak, which earned her shouts and whistles to the audiences.

Tomoe fixed up her things and faced Natsuki, pointing her Index finger to the blunette's face. "We're not yet finished bi**h!!!" she exclaimed.

The blunette smiled. "You know, it's not good to ditch me just like that, especially this time".

A mob was now glaring at Tomoe's sudden actions, and made the girl run for her life. "Tomoe! Wait a sec!" exclaimed Miyu as she was left behind by her companion, she turned around to Natsuki and gave off a bow before she ran outside.

"Oh, great. I'm finished. Have your turns now" Natsuki spoke to the crowd. Giving them a smirk.

"Thanks Man! You're awesome!"

"Dude be my teacher!"

"Be sure to comeback!"

The players and audiences said as they all smile at Natsuki. The blunette didn't have anymore reactions when she turned around; her thoughts were now looking for the crimson eyed goddess.

"Natsuki!" the brunette called as waves her hands the blunette.

"Oh, there you are."

"you're great."

"really? Well it's because you're there." The blunette exclaimed, not realizing her words.

"A-ara…that's so sweet of Natsuki." she replied, having a blush on her face, trying not to look on the emerald eyes.

"u-uhm, would you mind if we play some games together?" Natsuki asked.

The brunette nodded as a reply, for she didn't know what to answer next.

The two spent their time with each other playing different games. Shizuru saw her favorite, and it was not occupied, she pointed her index finger to its direction.

"Ara! Look Natsuki, it's not occupied"

The blunette looked at the direction of her finger. "Oh, dance dance revolution 2nd mix eh? Is that your favorite?" she asked.

"yup!" she brought her eyes to Natsuki and continued. "Would you mind if I challenge Natsuki in dancing now?"

'_here I thought, that she's just for ping pong games or driving, now she's challenging me_ _to a dance?'_ the blunette thought. "Oh, what's the deal if one of us wins?"

The conversation was cut off by three teenagers who stared closely at Natsuki.

"Are you Natsuki Kruger? From HiME magazine?" the girl from the three asked, she was wearing a simple ladies blouse, and slacks.

"y-Yes I am." The blunette answered, wondering how come that the girl knows her identity.

"Kyaaa! Im Erstin! This is Arika, and Nina" the girl replied as she introduce her companions.

"We can't believe you're here!" the other added, her name was arika, she wears a jumper, and had her hair pig tailed. "come on Nina talk!!"

Nina bowed her head as an introduction, though she really don't talk too much, she really admires Natsuki even though she could just only see her on magazines, HiME magazine had pulled her into the world of machines, luxury cars, and bikes.

Erstin stared to Natsuki for awhile and asked. "Uhm, could we take a picture of you Natsuki-san? We were one of your fans! And your magazine made us a little addict on luxury machines. Onegaiiii~" she pleaded.

Natsuki couldn't react anything but to nod, which made the teenagers squeal in delight, Shizuru on the other hand, had figure out what will be the deal on her challenge, and on the same time, she offered a little help on the three.

"Ara, I'm going to take the picture if you like."

"yaaaaaaayy!! Arigatou~!" the girls squealed as they handed the camera to the brunette.

"1…2…3" she counted as she pushed the button to capture.

*click

The three bowed her head thankfully to the two, and waved their hands until, they were lost in sight.

"Ara, so Natsuki's a little popular" Shizuru chuckled as she the blunette's face was a little flushed.

"Uh- I think so…well, it's because of the magazine," she replied, scratching her head.

The brunette smiled at her. "Alright then…Natsuki Kruger, I already made a deal"

Natsuki stopped her actions and looked to Shizuru "So, what is it?"

"Since Natsuki is planning to close her business, I propose that if I win, Natsuki should not close her business, and instead continue it and make the supporters happier."

"Shizuru! I already explained to you right!? If you wanted to have a job I'll look for you.." the blunette reacted.

"Ara, Natsuki, it's not because I needed a job or something, haven't you noticed the happiness of your fans when they saw you? They squeal, they giggle, they expect many things from you. If you're going to close the magazine just like that, you'll make others frown…" Shizuru briefly explained. Looking at speechless Natsuki she continued.

"You know, before I met you in person. Natsuki makes me happy because of her magazines, I liked the reviews, the information inside, everything, even your pictures, I never get tired looking at it. And now, knowing that my favorite magazine will soon close, because of hidden reasons, makes me a little down." She ended.

Upon hearing the brunette's explanation made Natsuki thought of her decision again. _'Shizuru's right…it may be a deal…but dad and I could talk this over…' _

The blunette eyed her, and smiled, she didn't expect that the girl beside her could understand everything and made her somehow think at her decision.

"I accept your challenge then, Ms. Shizuru Viola" she answered. _'First of all I'm here to make her happy, second is to enjoy' _she noted her self.

"Ara! Ookini Natsuki!" the brunette yelped, as they went into the machine and swiped their cards.

Shizuru didn't have a hard time to pick as song for them to duel, she managed to pick the song were they both never used to, atleast fair enough.

"Uhm, maybe this song will do, 'speed over Beethoven" the brunette stated as pressed the button to start.

"You know that song?" the blunette asked, putting her pants up so she could move.

"Apparently, not." The brunette looked at their attires. "Well, you seem to have advantage since im wearing a skirt."

"heh, I think so too."

The music had played and they started dancing, both of them moved their hips, and swayed as they follow the arrows and the beat, which gathered many audiences to watch. Shizuru, doesn't bother on holding her skirt and using her bare feet while dancing, after all she enjoys gazing at Natsuki who was having fun with her.

"Shi- *pant* Shizuru!" the blunette called as continues moving her body.

"Y-yes?*pant*?" the brunette answered in return.

"when will this song end? I'm *pant* getting *pant* tired!"

"I-If I know, I wouldn't have chosen this song *pant* after all!"

The couple continued dancing, the audiences had their breaths hold on, waiting for the winner. They also seem to look at them as very much entertaining.

After a few minutes, the song was finished, making both of them exhausted. Still, looking at the screen, Shizuru scored a point higher than Natsuki, which makes her the winner.

"Ara, Natsuki…deal is deal." The brunette said, having her precious smiles on her face.

"Oh…" she answered ah looked at the scores "I guess so…geez, you move great" she continued while regaining her composure.

"Ookini Natsuki…" was the only thing that Shizuru could mutter. _'why do your compliments touch me like this?'_

Natsuki smiled, few seconds later, they were interrupted by Natsuki ringing phone.

"Please excuse me for awhile Shizuru."

"It's okay Natsuki, take your time."

* * *

**On the phone**

"Yes Nao?"

"Natsuki, look at your watch!"

The blunette took a glance on her watch which shows that the time was already 6:30 pm.

"Oh, it's 6:30 in here, why? I told you I'll be off." She answered gazing her sight a little at Shizuru who was just busy looking at some machines. _'6:30, I never felt time was that fast.."_

"I know, I know, but could I go home?" the red head spoke on the other line, now scratching her head.

"Well, use my ducati! That's simple."

"Where's the keys??"

"Err…." The blunette hang on for a minute, checking her pockets, she had the ducati keys with her. "Here in my pocket?"

"Damn it! Now will I do?"

The blunette scratched her head. "Just wait for me, I'll bring the car back to you, just let me take Shizuru on her way home."

"Oh! Shizuru huh, the girl who applied this morning? Don't tell me you'll hit an innocent girl like her??" Nao joked.

Having a serious expression, she answered "Nah, she's not like other _girls_ around, well, I told her the real thing, and said your _truth_ is all a lie."

"Oh, what did she answer then? I bet she did not understand you at all." On the other line, Nao was now fixing her things, and getting packed up.

"She did…She even made me think twice…" the blunette replied, she could now see Shizuru on a store, buying their drinks.

"What do you mean?" Nao stopped her previous actions and decided to listen on their conversation. _'it's the first time I heard that someone had changed her mind, I thought she doesn't accept suggestions."_

"Maybe dad and I could talk over about this? You know, Shizuru's correct, seeing others happy is already an achievement. Other than that, we can keep the company as it is so everyone will still have their jobs, and just keep striving to be 1st but not force ourselves from pushing up. What do you think?"

"That's a big Yeah-Yeah for me you know! Is that you? tell me where's the other Nat-_chan_" the red head yelped. As she heard the greatest thing that Natsuki had told to her.

"NAO! It's still me, I just want to reconsider things."

"Oh, I see, so, that Shizuru had already melted those icepacks on you head."

"Crap. That's why I don't want to talk these kinds of things to you!"

Nao held out a small laugh. " well, well, then I'll wait for you here, take care of my car."

"*sigh, yeah, I know"

Then the line was cut off.

* * *

Going back to Shizuru, the brunette offered her a bottle of water, then they sat on the bench nearby the center.

"Shizuru, thanks." The blunette said as she open the bottle of water.

"It's okay, It's just water." The brunette smiled.

"No, not just this, everything I mean."

Shizuru got a flushed expression as she heard the words from Natsuki. "Ara, y-you're w-welcome."

"So, in return…I wanted to pay you back, let me take you a ride to your home." Natsuki stood up and looked the brunette. "Please?"

"I don't want to be such another load for Natsuki." She quickly replied, half of her wanted to say sure but half of her wanted to decline the offer because even though she had a big love interest on Natsuki it doesn't mean not to have limitations.

"You're not. And It's alright, so let's go…" the other replied offering her hand to the brunette.

'_Should I? or shouldn't I?'_ the honey haired woman thought as she stare at the hand offered by Natsuki. _'I hope I wouldn't make the wrong decision…'_

"U-uhm…sure" as she take hold of Natsuki's arms and walk.

The two got inside the car. Buckled up their seatbelts and started the engine.

"Oh, alright, #143 Amethyst Village, let's go."

"Ara, how did Natsuki know my address that fast?" she inquired.

"I-It's because the details were on your application paper." The blunette replied fast avoiding pink shades on her cheeks. _'I don't know, maybe I just stared too much on your profile? And your…picture?'_

"Ara, I see…"

It took 45 mins to reach the Fujino household, as they got out on the car it stunned Natsuki what she had seen. The house was built in a traditional yet stunning way, the doors were sliding, and it represents the old traditional houses of Japan, there were full of cherry blossom trees and a small fish pond on the side. The house was fairly large enough for almost 12 members of the family.

"Does Natsuki like what she sees?"

"Y-Yeah, well, I didn't know you live in here."

The brunette chuckled as she looks at her companion's amazed-puppy look.

Their actions were stopped when the door slid open, revealing an old woman in late 50's her gray colored hair was tied into a bun, and her eyes were the same as Shizuru's.

"Oh, Dear! Im glad you're back!" the woman greeted as she went to the brunette and hugged her tightly.

'_seems it's her mom..' _Natsuki thought as she looked at the two.

Shizuru pulled out from the hug and smiled brightly at her mom. "Ara, ofcourse Okaa-san… where is Otou-san anyway?"

"He's sleeping." Her mom answered as she took a glance on Natsuki. "Dear, who is she? I thought you'll work first before you become a wife?" she teased.

The raven-haired girl didn't help but to blush as she heard the words spoken by the brunette's mother while Shizuru didn't say anything but to giggle.

"I, -uhm, good evening ma'am I'm-"

"call me Okaa-san." She corrected

"oh…Good evening, O-okaa-san. I'm Natsuki Kruger your daughter's…friend"

The brunette's mom stepped closer to Natsuki and eyed her from feet upwards.

"Ara! Dear! So you are Natsuki? My daughter's former lo-" okaa-san was cut off by Shizuru's hand covering her mouth to stop.

"Kannin na, Okaa-san!!" she said as she look her gaze to Natsuki "Uhm, Ookini Natsuki, I hope you enjoy my company" then she put her hands off her mom's mouth.

"Dear, Natsuki! Fufufu…nice to meet you, well, why don't you come in?". _'kannin na dear I slipped!'_

'_oh..that's weird' _the raven-haired girl thought.

"It's okay, Okaa-san…I need to bring the car back to my friend." The blunette replied her with a smile.

"Oh…my, but make sure to come back again okay? I'll be going inside now." She answered as she leaves the two.

"Uhm, nice to meet your mom, Shizuru." The raven-haired girl said as she looks intently to the brunette beside her.

Shizuru looked back at her with an apologetic expression. "Ara, Im sorry for the rudeness Natsuki, Okaa-san does say such things at the same time."

"like what?" the blunette curiously asked.

"No-nothing!" the honey-haired woman replied swiftly while waving her two hands.

"Oh, I see…uhm I'll be going then"

"Ookini for the ride Natsuki."

"No problem, uhm…will I see you again?" Natsuki shyly asked, she knew that her face was heating up again.

Shizuru averted her gaze to the blunette before she answered.

"If Natsuki wants to, she could see me anytime."

"really? Thanks!" the other replied the emerald eyes seem to sparkle with happiness.

The brunette giggled at the sight of Natsuki who was happy yet cute at the moment.

The blunette walked towards the car and opened the door on the driver's seat, but before she get inside, she gave Shizuru a short wave on hand and a genuine smile, which was given back by Shizuru accompanied by a wink.

'_Kami-sama…Arigatou…'_

_

* * *

  
_

On her way to the Kruger publishing, Nao was at the entrance hall waiting.

She stopped her car infront of the redhead and got out with a toothy grin.

"Oi, what's up with you exposing your teeth?" the redhead asked.

"Nah, nothing just had some great time, here's your keys anyway. Thanks a LOT." the blunette answered emphasizing the 'lot' word, while throwing the keys to Nao.

"Oh, yeah, sure, but why?"

"because I had a great time."

"why did you had a great time?"

"because I had fun!"

"why did you had fun?"

"Because im happy"

"then why are you happy?!"

"because i had fun! what else do you need to know?"

"tell me directly the reason why??!?the reason why did you had a great time! why are you happy! why do you make that toothy grin in your face!" Nao shouted.

"alright! alright! It's because of Shizuru okay?! Happy?"

"Oh…hehehehe…ehehehehee"

"stop laughing, I wont give a damn reason why."

"yup, you shouldn't, by now. Because im too late for my favorite _show_! It's already 8:00!" she stated while running inside the car. "till tomorrow then pup. Be sure to explain."

"huh?! What the hel-Nao!.. show huh. Isn't it just sexy movies?" Natsuki growled as the car sped off.

"Oh, *sigh I should go home too." She spoke to her self as she went to the parking lot, called her assistants to bring duran home, put her helmet on, revved her engine, and start her ducati. _'My mind is made up…dad.'_

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I hope you like my chap. =3

still, feel free to use such weapons if you like to hurt me if you dont like the fic.

I suck at english I guess as in.

please review anyway!

sorry if I was too late to recognize your names! (Every time I type, my sis here, sneaks out, so I didn't have much time to put names. X( im not good at hiding)

good thing that they were not here. Bwahahahaha. XD


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I don't own Mai-HiME/ Mai-OTOME, neither the characters used in this story. XD**

**thanks to : kadd, angelnaughty, the temptation, xbloodhoundtrojanx, colorfulsunrise514, katieka, Krugern, Ume Sama, Fyee, lildevilish, iceprincess1927, emtz95, chill37 and the others who read and reviewed!~ hehe.**

**Ume sama: it's Maya actually. Sorry 'bout that! Typographical error, ehehe, thanks for that! =3**

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CHAPTER 5

'_Im proud of you Natsuki'_

Natsuki took an hour to reach her home, she almost cursed all of the trucks and other vehicles that made her stuck up on the road for 30 minutes, good thing she had great driving skills to pass all of the cars and make it on her way. The gate had a symbol of a wolf in its center, signifies that it is owned by the Kruger Family, she lives in a manor and it was large enough to occupy a hundred people, the path way was surrounded by trees and plants, and then a fountain is located at the center, a statue of a howling wolf is placed on its top.

"I could hear Natsuki-sama's engine!"

"Let's go and form!"

The entrance gates had opened automatically, Natsuki stopped in front of the doors, took off her helmet and dismounted her bike. She was welcomed by the attendants in line, all bowing their heads as she walk through them.

"Welcome back, Natsuki-sama" they all said as she walk straight and handed her keys to their butler named Sergay. The structure inside absolutely screams out how rich they were, the hall was full of family paintings and columns, on its left were the Kruger siblings having their solo paintings, on the right were their parents, and some are just the past generations of her family, the floor has its blue carpet onwards the grand staircase. Natsuki stopped as she stepped on the first stair and turned around.

"Uhm, are they at home? Guys?" she asked them without noticing to herself she was brilliantly smiling.

The servants were surprised with the look of their Natsuki-sama, one thought ran into their minds before they could answer. _'It was a long time to see Natsuki-sama smile like that..'_ . Then Aoi the chief maid represented the attendants and answered. "Yes, at the master's bedroom room Natsuki-sama, they were waiting for you" and bowed.

"Thank you Aoi, you could go back to your works now" the blunette smiled as she turned back and proceeded to her room and change. _'Well, prepare, yourself Natsuki, you'll have your 'defense' again, * sigh brings back college life..'_

_

* * *

  
_

The servants went in to the kitchen and had their small chit-chat about a '_major' _scenario that happened last time.

"Hey, have you noticed the look on her face?" a woman with glasses and the family's chef named Chie started the conversation.

"Yes! Who wouldn't? it's actually weird, I really forgot the time when she smiled like that." A girl in maid's attire answered, her name was Shiho.

"Well, let's just say 'thanks to the Lord!' because it's not her freezing glare that welcomed as back, I wonder what she had eaten.." Sergay commented while his fingers played the pocket watch.

"Whatever it is, I hope she continues eating or doing that thing, She had really been so cold after she graduated college, she can't even give us a grin…" Aoi added.

"Yeah, that's right…" the chef said in conformity

Sergay glanced at his pocket watch that indicates it's already 9:30.

"Oi, instead of having chit-chat in these times, I guess we should go back to our works, Saeko-sama will be disappointed if she saw us not working."

"Okay, okay, it's only just 30 minutes before we could have our rest." Sighed Aoi, and the four went to their places and continued their doings.

* * *

**Natsuki - POV**

After getting welcomed by our attendants, I walked through the corridor and opened the big doors of my room, different thoughts ran to my mind as I go directly to my closet and decided to change clothes; a black tank top, and shorts, that's what I decided to put on before descending to my bed. Now feeling more comfortable, I recalled the past events happened this morning up to now.

First, I've been the 2nd placer on the top 10 magazines around Japan, _again_.

Second, Tate resigned because of my provocative words, *sigh I need to apologize..

Third, I met a woman named Shizuru Viola, an applicant of mine, yet unaccepted because of foolish decisions, which already turned into regret as I saw her sparkling crimson eyes change into somewhat dim and dull.

Fourth, because of my carelessness, I hurt someone's feelings and decided to ran over her and ask her to a lunch which she accepted, I could feel her mood became so happy again, just like the first meeting, she's undoubtedly beautiful, and smart, almost..._perfect_.. Her smiles, compliments, laughter, it tickles me; it makes my stomach churn and blush hard.

I told her the truth, not hiding anything, I wanted her to understand me, I don't want to lie. I thought she'll get mad, but then instead, she advised me something, something that twisted my mind…She was the first one to make me think twice with my decisions.

She's right, I love this business, and I like to make others happy because of my magazine, if I close this establishment, I'll disappoint others, that's right, I'll fight for this business and I'll defend it no matter what happens. I can strive harder for the 1st place next time, but I don't want to push my workers that hard…I know many of them were seriously angry at me and just forcing themselves to do things with me, I wanted to change that, I wanted to scratch things and go back from the start, and make a new and better HiME-magazine.

I stood up on the bed and went outside to the balcony, it was damn cold yet relaxing, my thoughts pondered about that girl again…Why do I feel this towards her? My heart beats fast, and I couldn't help but to heat up…could it be possible that she's different? No one knows. I should still keep my guards up. It can be just because I am so foolish…

I shook off my head and cleared my thoughts. I went back inside and walked out on my room, this is the time, I proceeded to the Master's bed room where my parents are having their own time. I released a one heavy breath before knocking three times.

"Dad? Mom?" I called after knocking the door, my whole body tensed up as I heard footsteps on the other side of the big wooden door. I realized that they could easily recognize my voice.

"Nat-chan? Come in." The door opened revealing that the footsteps were my mom's. I swiftly came in and gave my mom at tender hug, which was given back, still I couldn't help to get nervous, though this will be the 5th time to defend my business to dad, after pulling off the hug, I walked towards the table at the center were a seat was turned back to me, meaning that father was there, waiting for me.

"Dad…I wanted to tell you something…" I murmured.

* * *

**Shizuru - POV**

After my Natsuki went away, I ran inside and looked for okaa-san, I apologized for my actions towards her the a minute ago. Glad she forgave me that easy… After an hour of teasing war, I told okaa-san the happenings the whole day, which reacted as bursting giggles to her. She woke up otou-san and told him all the things happened to me, I swear they were both happy and squealing..

I stood up and made my way towards my room, I decided to take a shower atleast to refresh myself, and be alone with my thoughts.

'_Will I see you again?'_

*Kyaa~

I can't help but to giggle all by myself, those words were staying on my brain.

Why is she so _good _to me after all?

Natsuki…

I thought she's a kind of a rich snob who doesn't care about other people. Who doesn't give attention to a lower class like me. _Could it be possible that a rich girl like her will fall for a low class civilian? _

I guess not…

A rich person could just be attracted to another rich one.

I don't have anything to change that. Or…I have? Well…I should.

*sigh

After shower, I sat on the chair nearby my study table and pick an issue of my favorite magazine…_HiME magazine._

I scanned each page and stopped at the division were some of Natsuki's personal information was located. There were Top 4 words that she was described..

_Athletic._

_Intelligent._

_Beautiful._

_Cold._

They should have said _perfect._

Not mentioning she's a kind hearted person inside…

Was there anyone who knows the real Natsuki? The one I have been to, few hours ago?

_Maybe there is, maybe there isn't._

I closed the magazine I picked and brought it back to its usual place, I closed my curtains and told okaa-san I have to rest. I need to get ready for another day of job hunting.

I admit…_I'm falling for Kruger Natsuki_…not just a crush

But it's impossible..

_Too impossible_…

I stared at my Natsuki's portrait beside my bed, after that, I pulled up my covers and hit the sack.

* * *

**Normal POV**

The seat turned around, revealing a man in 50s, his hair had gone gray, yet his dark eyes didn't lack it's sharpness and it's fresh look. He was still wearing his office attire.

"What took you so long my child?" he asked, as he look at her wife which was given back by a sweet smile.

"I – uhm, I just finished all the urgent files dad..-" the blunette replied, her emerald eyes not leaving on the carpeted floor she continued. "I wanted…to-to ask you something…"

"Is it about your company? We've talked about it, am I correct?" the man inquired, he knew there is an upcoming defense, which he and his wife had talked about.

**-Flashback-**

Two figures were on a large room, sitting on the couch side by side.

"Dear…" the woman called, she leaned her head on her husband's shoulder.

"Yes? What does my Goddess needs?" he trailed his fingers on her wife's cheek while gazing the beautiful view outside.

"About Natsuki…you don't have to take her company out just like that…" she spoke as she looked at her husband with her sparkling eyes which was inherited by Natsuki. Ciel took one of his wife's hands and interlaced it with his own. "I know Saeko, I just need to put up multiple acts for her, so I could see how far can she do, Actually, I'm happy that our daughter had raced to top 2 from the very start."

The woman squeezed their hands gently and replied. "Then, why is it? I could feel Natsuki had been down every year. Every time you put up your disappointed look on that handsome face. As for me it really hurts.."

Ciel gave her wife a comforting hug.

"I wanted her to say my magic words darling…Natsuki should admit and know that business is not just business, it's a passion, a career, a way of making other people happy, and a way to inspire them. I'm being a bad dad for her I know, but there's mere reason more than meets the eye…I just hope she's matured enough to understand this."

"Oh, so, my dad's getting softer now? I thought Krugers were born like wolves?" hearing the statement from her wife, his face lit up like a fresh tomato. "O-oi! It because…uhh…-" he looked away and continued " Wolves have their own soft side, especially when they are with their masters…I…guess?" looking sweetly to his wife.

Saeko chuckled and patted his husband's head, she really found his blushes were one of the best wonders she had seen, especially, when Natsuki and him blush at the same time.

"_I trust you dear_…" she murmured.

**-End of flashback-**

"b-But dad! I- I….please give me another chance!" she started to plead. She knew she had no hope, but she believes it's not yet the end of the world.

"Deal is deal Natsuki..." he coldly answered. Ofcourse it is just one of his '_almost-real_' acts to make Natsuki strive harder and make her down.

"Dad, I gave up on my luxury activities, I studied hard, just for this company…Dad, please..-" she knelt and begged on the floor with her two knees and continued "I loved my company…I wanted to make it better than it is…I'll scratch back from the start and do things well…just a chance dad…a chance to atleast work with my employees without forcing them…to atleast let them feel im not a bad person… just to-"

Her begging made her two parents be surprised."Enough my child…Stand up…it's over" He stood up and walked towards his daughter and picked her up, he smiled at his wife warmly and went his eyes back to the blunette. "You won, Natsuki, you'll have your company as long as you like."

Natsuki's eyes widened at the statement. '_could this be true? Dad is giving me the whole time for my company?'_

"dad how…why…did you-the deal..uh?" another surprise made Natsuki froze.

was her father laughing and chuckling at the same time with her mom?

Yes it is.

Saeko turned her attention to the blunette and started to explain things. "Nat-chan…all your father wants is to make you realize that business isn't just business itself, not just to earn money." She gazed up to her husband gesturing him to continue.

"Well, you know my child, I love your performance since the first, but one thing I wanted for you is to love your company and make your supporters happier, not just to compete with your brother's company, it's hard to believe, but it's true…_I'm proud of you_ _Natsuki_."

Natsuki's emerald eyes started to gather up tears, _'finally'.._ she couldn't hold back, she's too happy. Happy to be complimented by her father, it meant too much for her, happy to have her company back without any threats and deals, happy to have such parents like them and happy that she trusted _Shizuru_. She leapt towards her parents and gave them a bear hug, which was given back warmly, and happily.

"Always do your best Nat-chan…"

"We will always be at your side…"

The three sat into the couch and had their random chit-chat. When was the last time she talked happily with her parents? Now she knows, everything beyond a situation...is a reason.

"Dad? Mom? Where's Kenji-nii chan and Rei?" she asked before she leave.

"Oh, your nee-chan is on a business trip to Germany and your buddy, is just out, with his friends."

"I see…I'll get some rest then….Thank you very much…dad..mom.." the blunette said and left.

Her parents were having a sweet time again with each other.

"You sure are great on taking care of our kids…"

"It's because of dad."

"No, it's because of the both of us.."

* * *

Natsuki grabbed her phone and looked for Shizuru's application form. _' you are…~'_ she thought.

The blunette started to enter the number, and started to wait for the other line to answer.

*Ring *Ring

A sudden ringing of the brunette's phone woke her up, she glanced at her wall clock.

"It's already 1 am…who will call this late?" she looked to her phone "private number? Oh.. Goodnight." Then she pressed the 'end' button of her phone and went back to sleep.

"dammit! Why don't you answer?!" she dialed the number and waited for the other line again.

*Ring *Ring

The brunette started to get irritated of the phone, so she started to rub her eyes a little and decided to answer the call.

"Who is this…_please?_" a sleepy angelic voice answered.

'_oh…now what….' _Natsuki thought her mind started to ran out of speech.

"K-Kruger Natsuki." She replied back

"Nat?---suki?? KruHARRRRRRRR.....*yawn" the line of thoughts of the brunette were not yet processed.

"Yes, you don't remember me? it's Natsuki Kruger from last time. HiME magazine."

'_Natsuki…unh..NATSUKI KRUGER?!?!?!?' _Shizuru's thoughts started to click, many words filled out her mind, she became alert and her eyes widened, she almost burst to giggle and squeals as she heard Natsuki on the phone. "uh, K-Kannin na Natsuki!! O-Ofcourse I remember you…I- uh-"

"Oh, no, no, it's okay! Never mind 'bout that…I just wanted to tell you something." Natsuki's voice became a little cheerful, which confused the brunette why,

"Thank you Shizuru., thank you for coming into my life…"

Shizuru got more confused, yet, she can't help but to blush about the girl's statement. "A--ara..."

"Oh, well!!, what I mean is…Dad, he had given me the chance I mean the whole time to have the company without deals and threats to prove!! Shizuru the HiME magazine wouldn't be closed! It wouldn't be closed because of you!" she said happily.

Shizuru squealed very loud inside her room, which made the other neighbors turn on their lights and look outside if there is a burglar, it seemed her loud squeal almost sound like a shout of 'in need'. She quickly put her hands on her mouth to stop herself from squealing. _"Dear! are you alright?"_ a sudden question from her okaa-san came outside her room which she answered very,very fast "YesIam!IMSLEEPING!"as she covered the mouthpiece of here phone.

_"hello? Shizuru? Still there?"_ inquired on the other line.

"Yes, still Natsuki? I'm happy for you! well, honestly, it's not because of me, it's because of yourself, I just gave you an advice or an idea to think of…that's all"

"I wouldn't have done it if you didn't help me realize..."

'_Please Kami-sama…stop me from squealing'_ the brunette thought. Who would ever think that the great Natsuki Kruger would actually thank a lower class civilian?

"Ara…" was all she could reply.

"Uhm, could I ask you something?"

"Ofcourse my Natsuki what is it?" _'Oops!!! Not again! Shizuru!'_ she mentally shouted.

On the other line, Natsuki could feel her face burning up. "D-did you just say..-"

" 'Ofcourse Natsuki what is it?' That's what I said" Shizuru replied quickly as possible.

"No, you said-"

"You didn't hear anything else!!! I just said 'Ofcourse Natsuki what is it?'!

"oh…oh…Okay?. Uhm." Natsuki shook her head afterwards and coughed. " Shizuru, would you mind if you work with us? With the HiME magazine?"

"Ara…what do you mean Natsuki?" _'is she hiring me?'_

"I was hoping if you could work with me, and the Kruger team, I wanted to hire you actually…Kruger team needs you."

"Needs me?"

"Y-Yes."

"Me?"

"Yes."

"Me? really? Hiring me? working there with you? Kruger team?"

"YES. YES. YES. YES. And YES."

Shizuru couldn't form a reply, but she was actually dancing while holding the phone. "u-Uhm…"

"I hope you could consider…We'll talk about further details tomorrow morning at 8:00 am sharp. Please come."

"Ara, I-I will! I will!"

"Thank you Shizuru. Sorry for disturbing you in the middle your beauty sleep…uhm,Till here. Goodnight."

"Ookini, Natsuki…Goodnight."

And the conversation was ended leaving a dreamy Shizuru on the bed.

'_Ara…ara, Kami-sama! Do fairy tales come true?' _she rolled on the other side of her bed "I won't have my job hunting...I'll have Kruger Hunting" she giggled to her self.

On the other side of the line.

'_Good job Kruger…we'll have a new start.' _the blunette congratulated herself_.  
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**I hope you liked it! Well, not so full of Shiznat in here. But there will be more on the next chap. Hehe. **

**Thank you for reading! Please review! X3**

_*****I actually, didn't have the time to edit the other chapters. X| damn.  
_

_Please forgive me!_


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I don't own Mai-HiME/ Mai-OTOME, neither the characters used in this story. XD**

**HI GUYS. I swear I'm sorry, many of you seem to kill me because most you thought I already left the story, I am just so sorry guys, but I am so happy. SO HAPPY for your continued support in this. Really guys, I'll be updating this regularly by now. I hope you would still read it and enjoy. :D**

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Chapter 6

"_I am afraid to fall.."_

It was 1am when she had her late conversation with her charming puppy, informing her that she is going to work for the HiME magazine, and especially under her name: Natsuki Kruger.

_"Thank you Shizuru. Sorry for disturbing you in the middle your beauty sleep…uhm,Till here. Goodnight."_

These words left Shizuru dreaming on to her bed, she had never felt this kind of excitement before, few hours from now she will be working side by side with Natsuki and her team.

Now it's already past 3:00am and the brunette couldn't contain her senses to relax and go back to her sleeping state, she was actually forcing her eyes to shut but ending up giggling to herself. "Kami-sama, I wish to stop giggling now!" she rolled over to get the picture of the blunette beside her. Staring at it for awhile

"You…" She mumbled while looking at the portrait, her hands sliding on the cobalt-haired woman's features.

"Mou~ Stop staring at me! You're making me blush!" Her hand cupped her own cheek while emitting pinkish blushes on her nosebridge, she was actually flirting the picture. "If could just see, how wonderful you are, *kyaaaaa! Why are you smiling?"

She had an overload of Natsuki the whole midnight which caused her:

**6:00am**

"Shizuru dear, why do you have such luggage in your eyes?" Her father couldn't just believe that his daughter acquired her medium-sized eyebags, he sipped his tea while holding a newspaper. "You have your second day of job-hunting, am I right?" he gulped as he took a short view on his daughter _'She looks happy, I guess. But my, it's feels like she's high.'_

"Kannin na otou-san, I was just very very excited today!" her voice sounded trembling but cheery, but it was by the fact that she was not able to rest her systems very well. "Natsuki called me in the middle of the midnight, telling me that the company will not be closed and I'm hired!" she closed her eyes and sipped her tea to relax the remaining minutes before she prepare herself for bath, okaa-san sat beside her dad widening her eyes to her little kitsune.

"Ara! How much did you buy for MJ?" She teased, examining her features. Her tone sounded jokingly angry then laughed a little. "How would just your dear lover say if she saw you like that? Oh my." Her mom was teasing her again, she pouted as a reply. "Mou~ Okaa-san, now you're making me conscious! *chuckles Just trust me, I'm going to do my best today!" Although she had not enough sleep, her determination to be on time and to work for her first day fuelled her capacity to cheer up, not checking her eye bags.

After a few minutes she stood up to take a shower and dress for office. When she turned around to look herself on the mirror after her bath, she saw...

*Ennggk Enggk Enggk (Scary sounds)

"Noooooooooooooooooo~!" (She became conscious)

* * *

Her eyes scanned the whole closet; she glided her hands through the hangers and opened her drawers as if she was looking for something. She was very anxious to what she would wear today, now that she feels so free that the company she owns would continue to grow along with his team and she will have more time to know more about her employees than pushing them through their limits.

"This is a very big day for my magazine." She spoke to herself. She already planned this day as 'non-working but attendance is a must' day for all of her employees; of course all those who work under her name were unaware of this preparation, except only for Nao and Shizuru. With 'Mai-Delicious' under the care of Mai, a catering is scheduled to cover in one of the meeting rooms of the wing.

*Ting (A new message came on her phone)

It was Nao. Her message was all in caps, for Natsuki her voice would sound so loud in here.

_WHAT THE-? WE'LL PARTY TIL NIGHT! BETTER NOT TO EAT BREAKFAST! HAHAHA, SO WHAT ABOUT THE BACK-UP PLAN?_

_-NAO_

She smiled as she texted her reply to the red-head.

_Just put them all back for now, we could always use that especially now anyway. Hahaha. I hired Shizuru anyway._

_-Natsuki_

Then they had a short exchange of messages.

_OH... THAT'S GOOD! VERY. I'LL SEE YOU NOW WHIPPED OVER AND OVER AND OVER AGAIN! :D_

_Shut up! Or I'll drop a bomb to your ass right away! :D_

_DAMN, SAY THE ONES WHO FARTED LONG ENOUGH TO HELP HER IN-HOUSE CHEF FIRE AUNT SAEKO'S STEAK WHEN THEY LACK GAS. :D DON'T YOU DARE ME SPILL THAT ONE!_

_FINE! Hahahahahhahahaha F.U so much Juliet! See you! :D_

_NO PROBS. I EFFIN LOVE YOU TOO! EWW. HAHAHA :D LASTLY, I ALREADY TALKED TO YUUICHI TELL YA'LL DETAILS AT THE OFFICE. SEE YOU AND DRIVE SEXY, LIKE ME._

_What the? Hahahaha Okay! You drive safely!_

Then she slid her phone back to the table and think again of what she will wear.

"Damn, why do I really want this?" she asked herself.

After a few minutes, she had already decided her outfit; she wore maroon-fitting pants and black casual shoes while she chose to wear black short-sleeve polo and a v-neck tank top for her upper part. _'I guess this is fine, I should stop bothering myself for pushing these fashion tricks.'_ She finally closed her closet and fixed everything she needed before heading the office. "This is finally, a fresh start." She hummed to herself as she walked to knock on her parents' door.

"Mom? Dad?" No one answered, until a familiar force tried to surprise her by lounging her into a warm brotherly hug

"LI'L SIS!" He warmly greeted with a playful smile.

"REI!" She exclaimed, his brother Reito, or Rei has more on the looks of their father, he has his hair in pure-black with his eyes sharp as their dad's. "It's been awhile! Where were you last night?" She tapped his arm rested on her shoulders.

"I had a party, you know." He scratched his cheek. "Boy Games. Haha." He chuckled as he fixed his hair and removed his grasped to his sister. "So, where are you going?" He asked. "Leaving again, we have not played yet! I just came back!"

"Well, I'll make things up, just please don't leave almost every day! " She glanced at her watch then continued. "Obviously, I'll go to work. How about you? I was looking for mom and dad anyways, couldn't find them anywhere." She answered.

Reito is a freelance photographer and a fashion designer, he works all around the companies the Krugers have established, he's the closest buddy of Natsuki more than Kenji, who she considers as her rival in professional terms. Although, Reito has been expressing the manly of him, a part of Natsuki wants to believe there is still something more than him unveiled, just like what she is.

"Probably, had some _sweet time_, you know what I mean." He received a light punch to the blunette who was now a little flushed as she thought of the _sweet time. _She shook her head to release the shade and talked. "Gah! Forget about it, just tell me I already left for office."

"Okay, Take care on your way, Nat-chan!" He waved as his sister walked her way outside their manor; her keys were given by Sergay. "Anyways, I'll check your clothes next time, something is wrong!" He playfully shouted.

The blunette smiled warmly to her brother and waved back before straddling her Ducati , revving its engine and drive her way to the office.

Some workers for the Krugers stared the two in awe then looked at each other. "Are they really okay?"

* * *

Shizuru had herself mixed in full nervousness, consciousness, and excitement as she carry her bag, walk along the bus stop and wait for the bus, there stood a lone figure in 40s, also waiting for the vehicle to come. _'Ara, I forgot my watch.'_ She thought, she felt lazy opening her bag to get her phone so she gently nudged the person in front of her and asked. "Good morning, may I ask what time is it?" followed by her grateful smile.

The figure turned slightly to face the brunette. " Who—aaa OW" his eyes widened in surprise but made himself back in less than a second. "I-It's 7:00am miss, s-sorry for my reaction." He shyly laughed at his initial reaction. _'I must have scared him with these eyes.' _She smiled again in response. "You must have thought I was a lost ghoul, am I not?" She teased herself to ease the tension in the elder's side, which he laughed in response. "I'll just take it you did not have a good rest. Ne?"

"Hai, it's my first day on my job." She chuckled, she's very happy to have the opportunity everyone would go die for. And she knows she's not going to let it slip away.

"Oh, really? Do your best then!" The man cheered. Just in time, the bus made its way on the stop, the two figures started to hop in and travel. _'Here we go.'_

The travel on her way to the company was smooth as usual; she fixed herself before staring once again to the building before her. "Hello again, Kruger building." She smiled at the still architecture as if greeting it. _'I'm pretty sure I'm on time, so I guess I have to check myself at the restroom first.'_ She glanced as the big clock atop the receptionist. "I'm correct." She congratulated herself as she smiled at the personnel on the floor, it was just 7:35.

Then the sound of Kruger-sama's engine roared the mainbuilding.

With legs trembling and sweat dropping features, the raven-haired girl stopped right in front of the entrance of their building, she dismounted her bike as fast as she could, leaving her helmet on the receptionist and her workers in surprise. "IT'S COMING OUT!" with a hand on her behind preventing something to launch, while the other putting the keys on her pocket.

"MY GOODNESS WHY NOOOOOOW~" She cried out as she ran fast on her way to the restroom. _'Shit! I hope it's open!' _she made her way past a certain brunette who was just gracing herself to the restroom.

"Ara, so fast…Was that just Natsuki?" she asked to herself. Leaving the question itself she walked her way on the same room, thanks to all the blunette's crew, always on time.

*BRRRRRTTTTT. PPFFFRRRRRT. PLOK*

"Uhnnnnnnnnn..Geez." She mumbled to herself silently, her raven locks were falling as if covers for such embarrassment; she did not expect to be warmly greeted by such warm and hard-to-release bowels. "I was forcing you to come out earlier! Why so shy of you?" she lectured her stomach. After a few pushes, majority the pressure were already gone. "Oh…" That's the best expression of being relaxed once again.

She heard a giggle.

'What the-' Natsuki mentally cursed on her mind. _'I forgot this is a public restroom, not mine. For Kami-sama's sake!'_

But the release of pressure from Natsuki's air eating drive did not cooperate with her. *BRRRRRRRRT* A fart partied loud to embarrass her more. _'Curse you ass! I hate hate hate you!'_

Now she heard bursting giggles outside. _'Damn, this woman! Why can't she leave? Pleeaaase.'_ She mentally noted. Her body was now relaxed, now the only left to finish the ritual was the 'cleansing'. _'After this one, I'll kill you with these menacing stares woman!' _she cannot handle the embarrassment she was having anymore, it is not like she wanted to fire the giggling woman, but she wanted her to know that she should have left the rest room.

*Click*

The door of her cubicle slowly opened, her eyes searching for a certain giggling figure, who was now on the corner of the restroom her hands covering her face while continuing her giggly laughs. _'Chestnut locks? Whoa… No…_' she has realized the figure that stood at the corner. Just from the curving figure who was wearing a dark green blazer with a knee high office skirt that showed her curves and the tawny colour of her hair that compliments the whole woman she was eyeing. _'Shizuru…Viola.'_ She frighteningly uttered, at least mentally.

"C-Can't you just stop, laughing please?!" Natsuki fully opened the door, her face reddened due to so much embarrassment. "Shizuru!" she finally called her name.

"Ara? *giggles" She turned around to face the embarrassed CEO. "It smelled like your breakfast." Her eyes were crying out of happiness which made her eye bags creepier for the moment. Natsuki's face changed within seconds which Shizuru happened to realize.

"Ikezu!~" her giggles were placed by a sudden surprise consciousness. _'Karma went so fast!'_

"Shiiizuru!" Natsuki barked a scared tone, But later on on went on the floor laughing. "What ha-*laughs* Happened?" she stood up on the floor mentally calming herself step by step. "Now, try to laugh at me again!" she followed a short laugh at the brunette.

"Call it even, Ms. Kruger!" she blushed for a moment and used pout "I know what you're mumbling earlier like 'I was forcing you to -" then she saw her boss covering her ears while blushing. _'Ara, such a cute person to tease… You're making things for me Kami-sama'_ she stopped her teasing and chuckled at the response of the blunette.

After a few minutes of easing each other's laugh, bagged crimson orbs met a sparking one. They smiled at each other.

'_Even with those bags, I find you more fascinating.' _The viridian eyed girl thought as they continue their staring contest.

'_I can't place a word in this moment…' _the crimson orbs sparkled.

Natsuki coughed and started to talk, more in a formal conversation. "Well, seems both of us have moved on into that unforgettable moment, right?" Both of them chuckled. "So, Miss Shizuru Viola…"

Shizuru paid attention. "Yes, Boss?" her tone was rather sweet.

The blunette's heart fluttered a moment when she heard the title given to her, in a sweet tone but pushed it away_. 'I cannot blush too much in front of this girl.'_

"Nah, Natsuki. My team works like a family, well, a broken family I suppose if I'll think of it now. But you know, just Natsuki is very fine." Her hand waved like she did not care for a title.

The crimson-eyed woman formed and 'o' in her lips. _'So now I think, she's really different from any boss. I wonder how she works back then.'_

Natsuki glanced on her clock. "It's near eight, let's get going." She walked through the restroom door and opened it for Shizuru. "Ookini." She smiled and went out first.

'_Well, this I guess ranked 1__st__ in my list of my most embarrassing moment now.' _The blunette thought as they walked outside the room. "Wait for me here, I'll just park my bike correctly." The brunette nodded in response, so she ran out and did her job.

Shizuru, on the other hand pulled out a sticky note, putting the date and the time she wrote something in it and smiled.

"Hey there." Natsuki got back as fast as she could.

"Let's." Shizuru smiled in return.

* * *

As the elevator opened, they walked pass across rooms through the office seeing her red-head friend gathering her team members at the board room. "Thanks to Nao." Natsuki stated as they walked near the door. Shizuru just smiled at Natsuki's relieved expression.

Nao, on the other hand, caught the eyes of her viridian mate, winking at her she said "There she is, our great Aslan speaking for the land of Narnia! -Ouch! Heck!" which earned her a bonk on her head. A familiar face stood behind the blunette and of course, it will not go past her laughing lungs.

"Is that you? Ms. Vuala?" Trying her self to calm first to keep formality. "It's Viola, cheeseball!" corrected by Natsuki.

"Oh, Sorry Ms. Shi-Shizuru Viola? Right?" the red head finally uttered. The referred brunette nodded and smiled.

"Yes, I am, miss Nao Zhang." She was offered another hand shake, this time by Nao which she gladly accepted. " No, no formalities from now on, Shi-zu-ru." The red-head's voice became friendly; she knew the reason why Natsuki hired her, most of all, why Natsuki all of sudden became like this. It was all because of her.

After scanning the crimson-woman, "Now let me do this, sorry—HAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHA" She was crying herself out of a sudden,

After a few seconds, "Okay, all is well! I just find your eye bags kinda weird! You look so different!" Shizuru did not know what to react, her eye bags has been her trademark ever since 6:00am. She just flushed her self out of shyness.

Most of the Kruger team members have not seen her yet, so they were kind of curious why their beloved Nao had burst into laughs at one point. For them Shizuru just looked like a normal Halloween employee, just like them no sleep at all. Which unknown to them she hides the beauty of Natsuki's goddess.

Natsuki poked Shizuru in her arms lightly and whispered non-chalantly. "You're still beautiful." Then, she went back to her spot in front of the crowd. This caused her porcelain skin to heat too much. _'Oh no, what am I feeling.'_ Her heart beats too much, she cannot control.

_'If I ever fall for you, would you catch me?'_ she shook her head again and again to subside her full blush. _'I can't have a person like you Natsuki. We don't match after all.'_ She stared at the young figure who was about to start talking.

-o-

Natsuki coughed, this gained the attention of all her team members, she scanned them as if checking their attendance. _'Just Tate…wel *sigh'_ Then, she smiled. A warm smile which caused everyone to stare to her half surprised, everyone almost shared the same thought.

'_After all these years, it was again the first time to see her smile.'_ The past years after finishing her college brought her more into her downside, everyone witnessed the blooming Natsuki Kruger in her first years of managing the HiME magazine, she didn't like any of them younger or older than her call her something she will stand out, she wanted her to call her by her first name 'Natsuki.' They worked along with her from soft tides until rough ones, the magazine reigned to be the 2nd among the top 10 magazines along Japan, for them it was worth the effort, but neither any of them know, why was Natsuki became so hard, so cold to the point she had stopped herself from smiling. So this moment, the moment they saw their cold boss warmed a little caused them to curve their lips once more.

The crowd seem to light the atmosphere, which made Natsuki more comfortable. "Thank you guys, for not leaving me." She sighed deeply and continued. "From the very first period, we have been together, worked together, I assume you already know how we all work right?"

The crowd seem to nod at her statement. "I've always considered you as my, second… family." Her members began to soften at the moment. "I know these past years, I have been a very very bad leader, I have caused you so much sleepless nights and trouble, just so you know, I regret all of that deep here. " She held her heart. Nao, smiled admiring how her buddy handled with such gentleness the Shizuru continued to stare and hear how the girl speaks.

"A family divided in to two or into how many, cannot stand alone." She remarked. "I wanted to start a new Kruger Team, with you guys, you who did not leave me through this. Who shared pain, and effort in making this magazine, Our Magazine." She emphasized. "A family that will not be broken again."

The hearts of her team members fluttered, some of them shed soft tears, and they were very happy, happy to be acknowledged, Happy that they never left. But the young CEO isn't finished yet.

"The reason behind my pain is that, my dad would close this establishment if we continued being 2nd, it was an ultimatum we have dealt because of my aspiration." She heard gasps from them.

"But don't be afraid, I have placed you your new jobs if that was about to happen anyway. Even if the magazine would close, you will still have some positions to keep in though, not the same. Hehehe-" She chuckled at her own statement. "I did not know, my dad was just keeping an image to me to teach me something. He wanted me to realize that before any, I should first love you guys, love our readers, and love each other. It is the secret how a company grows better I guess." She could not believe how fluffy her words right now, but she couldn't just explain better.

The crowd seem to wait for a word to let them know she's finished.

"To top it all guys," She coughed. "I'm not gonna let you go."

The crowd stood and cheered for her, some cried too much tears, everyone was just happy, so happy. Natsuki could not believe she was seeing, they felt so much happy working for her. She looked for a certain someone, her eyes scanned left to right, just to meet those crimson orbs standing beside her best bud.

_'Shizuru…'_ her eyes sparkled so much happiness. She mouthed 'Thank you' on her. The brunette on the other hand, winked her with so much happiness and amusement. Natsuki blushed at her sudden actions. _'No, no, do not blush here.'_ The wink replayed. _'Oh man, I'll have insomnia tonight.'_

"Anyway!" She shouted to gather their attention once more. "Today is no working day, proceed to the meeting room for we will feast and bond as family!"

"OH, HELLA PARTEYYYYYY!" Nao cheered together with the members, everyone stood up to their seats and fixed the board room like nothing happened, they emptied the board room and started the buffet.

Nao walked last after others, leaving Natsuki and Shizuru at their spots. "Hey, FACK Leader!" she changed her pronunciation of 'P' to 'F' to taunt her again. "If there is anyone who would lead better between you and your brother, I'll stand by your fur." Her face made a toothy grin and waved till she was lost in sight.

Natsuki gave her a lopsided smile, though she did not see. "Really, you Nao." _'I'm thankful you're here.'_

"Ara, that's so much of you Natsuki. I was kind of speechless." The woman beside her smiled, her smile was full of grace and charm, less the eye bag part. For Natsuki it's still lovely. _'What spell do you have on me…'_ Her face blushed to her words and facial expression.

"It's because you're here." Her words were almost incoherent.

"Again, Natsuki?"

She took hold fast of the brunette's left hand and kissed swiftly as she could. Both of them flared faces. "Ara…" Again crimson orbs were left speechless.

"Don't do that Natsuki." She finally spoke but gently. Her words made the blunette to step back by the crimson's sudden reaction. _'Wha—What did I just do?'_ Natsuki spoke to herself.

"I'm afraid to fall…" after that she walked past the blunette, "Let's go." She mumbled, leaving a dumbfounded raven-haired girl.

"Such an idiot Natsuki!" she scowled herself "I pushed the wrong button." She followed walking Shizuru behind, slower to prevent them from walking side by side.

* * *

Just as scheduled, Mai-delicious covered the whole catering, with Mai of course being the head chef of her own restaurant. She just have to leave her Main restaurant to the manager in-charge, and Mikoto.

"I am kind of scared with what is happening to my restaurant all of a sudden." She sighed deeply while supervising her workers.

"Nao!" She called her familiar red-head friend. "Goodness! I've been looking for you and Natsuki!"

"Hey there Mai- hmmmmm delicious!" she was actually referring to her buddies bust size but was met into a spatula slap.

"You called my name, just to greet your good friend that!" cursed the lime-eyed woman, but then both shared laughs and a "HIGH FIVE" as their symbolic greeting. "Where's Natsuki?" Mai curiously asked?

"Well, alone with the Viola girl I guess, have you met her already?" Nao responded as she grabbed a plate while picking small pieces from different cuisines. "Yeah, Shizuru Viola you mean?" Nao nodded.

"I smell something to Natsuki, well, probably just a guess." Mai stated plainly while staring at the munching Nao.

"I, as well. That's her first time you know! " she managed to talk while eating. "It's weird. Not weird, I mean creeeeeepy!" she blurted out a small laugh but ended by choking her food.

"Oh, my, Nao! How old are you really!" she chuckled as she offered water to her choking friend.

A cobalt haired woman finally came on the two. "Natsuki!" she walked towards her two friends, her face a little trembled. "I can't find her!"

"What? Who?" The two forgot instantly that she was looking for the woman they were just talking about.

"Shizuru!"

* * *

Hahahaha

I hope you still enjoyed! Don't forget to read and review. :3

It helps and energizes me alot. ;D


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